TDPS at BTN and ATHE 2016 in Chicago

Faculty and students recently represented TDPS at the 30th Anniversary Black Theatre Network Conference and the 30th Anniversary of Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) Conference in Chicago. 

Faculty and students recently represented TDPS at the 30th Anniversary Black Theatre Network Conference and the 30th Anniversary of Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) Conference, both in Chicago last week. 

Black Theatre Network Conference (BTN)

At the BTN Conference, Professor Faedra Chatard Carpenter and PhD candidate Khalid Yaya Long presented on a panels and roundtable discussions. Long presented his paper, "Theatre at Historical Black Colleges and Universities: Legacy, Present and Promise: A Roundtable." 

Alumna Marcia Pendelton (President of Walk Tall Girl Productions) was awarded the Winona Lee Fletcher Award for Outstanding Achievement and Excellence in Black Theatre. Former student Andre Harrington (Professor at California State University Santa Barbara) was elected the new Vice President of BTN.

Marcia Pendleton and Scot Reese at BTN in Chicago 2016

Association for Theatre in Higher Education Conference (ATHE) 

The Black Theatre Association (BTA) is a focus group of ATHE, and PhD candidate Khalid Yaya Long completed the prestigious position of Graduate Student Representative for BTA. MA candidate Leticia Ridley was voted in as the new Graduate Student Representative of BTA.

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Professor Faedra Carpenter, Khalid Long, Leticia Ridley, and Professor Scot Reese at ATHE in Chicago 2016

Professor Carpenter presented on the panel "Spotlight on New Works: Discussion of Newly Published Works in the Fields of American Theatre, African American Theatre, and Lation/a Theatre" and Professor Scot Reese (SDC Journal Peer-Reviewed Section Board Member) was part of the Directing Program Focus Group.

TDPS students from the MA/PhD program presented the following papers:

• Allan Davis (PhD candidate) - "Assessment in Religiously-Affiliated Institutions of Higher Education" (session coordinator/chair), "Everygirl and Memory in the House of Play: Allegorical Spectacles of White Femininity in a Drama League Children's Theatre" (session coordinator)
• Elisabeth Fallica (PhD candidate) - "What Costume Reveals in New York Burlesque" and "The Labor of 'Doing-It-Yourself': A Case Study of Two New York Burlesque Showgirls"
• Jeff Kaplan (PhD candidate) - "'The Word of Your Body': Redemption, Exstasis, and Sex with Trees in an Interdisciplinary Spring Awakening"
• Khalid Long (PhD candidate) - "A Labor of Love: Current Dissertation Research Projects Center on Black Theatre and Performance" and "Staging the Global Diva: Glenda Dickerson Responds to 9/11"
• Leticia Ridley (MA candidate) - "'Transgressive Womanhood: Reexamining Gender Politics in Angelina Weld Grimke's Rachel'"
• LaRonika Thomas (PhD candidate) - "Sites of Labor & Performance: The Chicago Architecture River Boat Tour" (session coordinator/organizer), "Dramaturging (in) Chicago: A Discussion of Theatre, Labor, and History with the City's Dramaturgs" (session coordinator/moderator), "A City of Labor and Leisure: Chicago Theatre as History and Chicago History as Theatre" (panel co-chair, organizer), and "Toward a Civic Dramaturgy: Performances of Urban Planning in Chicago from Daniel Burnham to Theaster Gates" (session coordinator/presenter; awarded the ATDS Graduate Student Travel Award); re-elected as the Electronic Communications Chair for the Dramaturgy Focus Group
• Jonelle Walker (MA candidate) - "Performing Without Rights: that'swhatshesaid"

LaRonika Thomas awarded the ATDS Graduate Student Travel Award for her paper,

"Toward a Civic Dramaturgy: Performances of Urban Planning in Chicago from Daniel Burnham to Theaster Gates"

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Graduate students Allan Davis, Leticia Ridley, Khalid Long, LaRonika Thomas, and Elisabeth Fallica at ATHE in Chicago 2016

They were joined at the conferences by many UMD alums teaching across the nation —  Brett Crawford (Carnegie Mellon), Susan Anthony (Depauw University), Sharon Ammen (SMW College), Gail Medford (Bowie State), Cheryl Black (University of Missouri), Anne Fliotsos (Purdue University), and others.